Police to file chargesheet against 35 FTII students

Police is all set to register chargesheet against 35 FTII students for allegedly gheraoing the institute's director Prashant Pathrabe.

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Pune: The Deccan Gymkhana police is all set to register chargesheet against 35 students of the Film and Television Institute (FTII) on Monday for allegedly gheraoing the institute's director Prashant Pathrabe.

The incident is said to have taken place during the 139-day agitation  against political appointments on the governing council.

In the complaint filed by Pathrabe, at least 3 students have been accused of gheraoing him on August 17 last year. The police acted on the complaint and arrested five students then while 12 students managed to get anticipatory bails.

A statement issued by the FTII students' association reads, "The FTII administration on one hand draws out academic schedules and deadlines and on the other hand proceeds with the court cases to corner the students. It is extremely disheartening and shameful to see the administration of a premier government-run institute arm-twisting its students on orders from their superiors, who happen to be the elected representatives of the citizens."

Students have expressed dismay over the fresh notices and have criticized the centre government for criminalizing dissent while observing that their struggle with the ministry of information and broadcasting and the FTII administration will continue. They also questioned the silence of chairman Gajendra Chauhan and the governing council on the issue.

"The chairman was asked by the faculty to re-look cases during the governing council meeting held on January 7. He, however, sidelined it as a non-issue and continues to put pressure on the FTII administration to evict the students of the 2008 batch, who are at the fag end of their diploma films," the statement said.